external hard drive problem
 

so this is probably quite basic, but not so much to me.
because i am semi-literate technologically, you see.

i have a fantom drive external hard drive that seems to have developed a Problem...where previously it worked fine, not when it is turned on it makes a series of clicking sounds and then nothing happens.

when i plug it into my pc, it registers that there is a device connected via the usb port, but apparently nothing is being read.

so i assume that we have a lovely mechanical problem.
like the drive itself is crapping out.

so the question is:
does that sound right?
and if it is, what steps are possible?

the scenario i envision is that i have tog et a new hard drive, take this one to a data recovery dude and get the files copied.
but i am hoping there is another way to do approach this.
is there?

did you try different ports?

did you try a different computer?

does anything show up in My Computer for the drive?

did you install the disk into the external housing, or did it come with it preinstalled?

thanks!

did you try different ports?

====not on this machine. i will.

did you try a different computer?

=====yes. it still make noise but the mac laptop recognized it, etc.
but that also coincided with the start of the Bad Noise.
now it goes unrecognized---the device is present, but it doesnt read. so i assume there's a connection between this not-reading and the Bad Noise.


does anything show up in My Computer for the drive?

=========no.
it did until this morning.
then the Bad Noise started.

did you install the disk into the external housing, or did it come with it preinstalled?

preinstalled.
thanks!

Go to Control Panel

Then Administrative Tools

Then Computer Management

Then Storage

Then Disk Management

Does it show up there? Does anything besides your internal HDs show up?

Thanks!

well, the clicking noise can only be one of two things in an external enclousre, the drive or the cooling fan. If it was the fan, then almost assuredly it would be constant or move from a clicking to a loud, constant noise as the fan sped up. So, let us move to it being the HDD itself.

Generally a clicking noise in the HDD is a head crash, meaning the read head of the drive is crashing into the platter. This is bad news and not something to mess with often, if there is data on the drive you need and have not backed up. There are several TEMPORARY fixes you can try if you need to attempt to recover some data. One suggestion is to put the drive in a sealed ziplock bag and stick it in the freezer for about 15-30 minutes. This has worked for me exactly one time, and only let the drive run again for about 20 minutes, which let me save some of my MP3s. If it is a head crash, every time you turn it on and it clickcs against the platter, you are permanently destroying data (scratches to the platter are not recoverable). Many newer drives will detect a read-head collision and stop the platter from spinning, which is why it may not continue after a few seconds.

Redjake has some good steps for troubleshooting, but noises + hard drives is generally a pretty unfixable issue.

xepherys knows his shit. Your hard drive is very probably now a fancy paperweight. You can try the freezer trick (I know this one, but unlike xepherys I have never seen it work), or take it to a data recovery specialist and salvage what you can.

Let this be a lesson to you. Never, never, never store mission-critical data in one place only. Back that shit up!

thanks comrades---i had the sense of doom after doing some preliminary looiking about--fortunately, the hard drive is the backup drive--there are only a few files on it that are not duplicates. so this is mostly an irritant.

i'll get another, find a data recoevery person and try to salvage the files.
then i'll stick it in the freezer because i'm curious to see whether it works.

be forewarned, data recovery is not cheap at all. Unless the data is of the utmost importance, or you just have cash burning a hole in your wallet, I wouldn't count too highly on it.